The Legitimation of Power

Political theory has undergone a remarkable development in recent years. A systematic study of legitimacy within social science, the book starts as a critique of Weber and examines the link betwen a social-scientific approach and the various philosophical traditions of theorizing about legitimacy.

From inside the book

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Page 49These rules are usually referred to as the division of labour . At first sight the division of labour looks like the basis for a mutual dependence and reciprocal
benefit through the specialisation of social tasks and functions . However , in
most ...

Page 53Although only women are capable of giving birth and suckling children , the
sexual division of labour has historically gone well beyond these physiological
differences , in two respects . First , the conventional assignment to women of key
...

Page 102To underline this point , let us make the entirely imaginary and fanciful
supposition that all social rules – about property , the division of labour , political
authority - originated in a deliberate agreement at some historical moment in the
past .